1. There are times when I am really happy with my tone on the violin—when my bow is pulling just right against the string and the sound is warm and clear and silky, when the friction between the two is wonderfully present but still smooth, when everything just works. I love those times—being so absorbed in the feeling, as well as in the sound coming back to me. Enjoying the effort, but also the ease. It is in the combination, I think, of friction and ease—in the perfect balance of the two—that the magic lies.
2. There is a firmness of touch, too, that matches words and eyes perfectly when a friend grabs your hand: I love you. I’m here. I will pray. Strong and urgent and full, but not overbearing, not painful, not hard. Any harder or any softer and you would either be frightened or not trust. But there, in the middle, is truth.
3. This—tension and beauty, strength and vulnerability. (The movement I’m thinking of, the “Serenata,” starts at 2:15.)
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